More Revery: Will Oldham News

News on Bonnie Prince Billy and his various incarnations, including Will Oldham, Palace Music, Palace Brothers, Bonny Billy, Drag City, and the like.

[herooflove]

Angel Olsen.

Ink, paper. 2012.

[morerevery-blog]

In the video above, Cheyenne Marie Mize performs her song "Call Me Beautiful" at the Aloft Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina on June 13, 2012.

Mize previously collaborated with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy on the 2009 EP, Among The Gold.

(Video taken by the YouTube user ledzrulz).

[morerevery-blog]

Will Oldham (a k a Palace) writes mournful, unkempt, plaintive songs that whisper and wail like old hillbilly ghosts. The young Kentuckian's early records were so studiedly rural and ragged, one wondered if they were pure shtick. But Oldham's more recent tunes manifested the depth and variety of a ripening talent. Palace's newest record, "Viva Last Blues," recalls Dylan, Loudon Wainwright and "Harvest"-era Neil Young with a cycle of strikingly distinctive, beautifully recorded songs that are clearly the work of a talented, fascinating songwriter.

Music critic Rick Reger, writing in "Roots & Branches: Woody Guthrie, Public Enemy Among Harper's Folk," originally published in the Chicago Tribune on Friday, November 17, 1995. The article served as a notice of Palace's Saturday, November 18, 1995 show at the Lounge Axe in Chicago, Illinois.

[morerevery-blog]

Hailing from Louisville, Ky., the Palace Brothers is essentially the nom de plume for 24-year-old Will Oldham. With a revolving cast of players, Oldham has documented his cathartic love of song on several releases since early 1993. In the past, Oldham has cloaked his aching observations with provincial country-plunking, God-fearing Appalachian folk and mournful Celtic balladry. Foremost is Oldham's ability to paint a picture with his words and his quivering, weary voice. With the six songs on Hope, Oldham and his five accompanists recall the intoxicating loose swagger of The Band, with plenty of mercurial organ sweeps, plodding piano chords and late-night bar harmonies. The minor-keyed All Gone, All Gone spills note after foresaken note like tears that Oldham hopes he can ''fix up with beer.'' Agnes, Queen Of Sorrow taps into the same melancholia that informed Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left album. Also including a fragile rendition of Leonard Cohen's Winter Lady, Hope is the bestplace for the curious to start before investigating the rest of Oldham's beauteous canon. If Faulkner had written melodies to accent his angst-filled prose, it would have sounded like The Palace Brothers.

The Calgary Herald, in an unattributed piece entitled "Recent Releases," originally published on January 2, 1995. The writer is reviewing Will Oldham's Hope, a six song EP released under the moniker Palace Songs through Drag City Records.

[morerevery-blog]

Today, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's new EP, Now Here's My Plan, is released on Drag City Records. The six track album features re-recordings of his older songs, including "I See A Darkness."

[morerevery-blog]

Chicago's Drag City records, another local independent rock label with a growing national reputation, will present its first three-day invitational rock 'n' roll variety show Thursday through July 31 at Lounge Ax. The lineup includes Drag City bands Pavement, Royal Trux, the Palace Brothers, King Kong, Silver Jews and Smog. Asked if the 4-year-old label is celebrating anything in particular-such as an anniversary or a new major label distribution deal (the label is now distributed by Chicago's Touch and Go Records)-Drag City partner Dan Koretsky replies that he and partner Dan Osborn are simply presenting good rock 'n' roll at sane prices. "The point is for people to pay their $10 and feel really good about it," Koretsky says. "What we're trying to do is make a cliffhanger or an action movie out of a show, where people don't think twice about paying. It'll be a somewhat intimate setting with a limited amount of people allowed in, so it should be fairly comfortable. The bands on the bill can kind of share each other's audience and benefit from that."

David Rothschild, writing in "Drag City Drags Out Talent for Rock Show," originally published in the Chicago Tribune on July 23, 1993.

[morerevery-blog]

Above you'll find Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's official music video for the 2012 re-recording of "I See A Darkness," which appears on his new EP, Now Here's My Plan, which will be released this coming Tuesday, July 24, 2012. The video, set in the streets of Glasgow, Scotland, was directed by Ben Berman. The original version of the song appeared on the album of the same name released on January 19, 1999. Just a year later, the title track would be covered by Johnny Cash on his American III: Solitary Man album.

(Video courtesy of and hosted by the DragCity YouTube channel).

[morerevery-blog]

In the video above, Lou Barlow, of Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr fame, covers "Riding" by Will Oldham's Palace Brothers at the Hana-Bi rock club in Ravenna, Italy on July 16, 2012. The song originally appeared on Palace Brothers' There Is No-One What Will Take Care Of You record in 1993, while an electric version appeared on 1997's Lost Blues and Other Songs compilation album. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy revisited the song again in 2004 on the Greatest Palace Music album. (Video taken by the YouTube user studiocinemaweb).

[morerevery-blog]

In the video above, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy performs “No Gold Digger” at the Teatro Arena Conchiglia in Sestri Levante, Italy on Thursday, July 19, 2012. The performance was a part of the 2012 Mojotic Festival. "No Gold Digger" originally appeared on the 1996 Palace album Arise Therefore. (Video taken by the YouTube user Marco Siddi).

[morerevery-blog]

In the video above, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy performs “Horses" at the Teatro Arena Conchiglia in Sestri Levante, Italy on Thursday, July 19, 2012. The performance was a part of the 2012 Mojotic Festival. Originally released as a 7" single by Palace Music in 1994, "Horses" is a cover of the 1988 song by Sally Timms of the Mekons. The song later appeared on Palace Music's 1997 compilation album, Lost Blues And Other Songs, as well as Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's 2004 record, Greatest Palace Music. (Video taken by the YouTube user fraca70).

[morerevery-blog]

Drag City was formed by a trio of fanzine wonks, Dan Koretzky, Dan Osborn, and Rian Murphy, in 1991. The label quickly demonstrated its savvy with its Pavement singles. Otherwise, their taste runs from the out-there (druggy rock duo Royal Trux) to the off-kilter (childlike funksters King Kong, and barbiturated cowboys the Palace Brothers).

Billboard magazine, in an unattributed piece entitled "Chicago-area labels agree to disagree," originally published on August 21, 1993. At the time of the publication of this article, Palace Brothers’ debut album, There Is No-One What Will Take Care Of You, had only just been released by Drag City two and a half months beforehand on June 7, 1993. Spelling errors in the surnames of the founders in the original report have been corrected.

[morerevery-blog]

The album cover to Palace Brothers' There Is No-One What Will Take Care Of You, released by Drag City Records on June 7, 1993. The record that would start it all, the twelve track album is the first official recording of Will Oldham. Clocking in at just under 43 minutes, it offers tunes that one Chicago critic, observing Oldham play them live some time later in the fall of 1993, would call "country tunes steeped in metaphysical dread."

[morerevery-blog]

Just as Nine Inch Nails is basically Trent Reznor, [Palace Brothers] is essentially Will Oldham, his guitar and quavering tenor vocals. Oldham is occasionally backed by other musicians who aren't brothers and are not named Palace. No word if Oldham will perform solo or with recruits.

- Bill Eichenberger and Gary Budzak, writing in "Nine Inch Nails Hammers Home Self-Inflicted Torture," originally published in The Columbus Dispatch on November 10, 1994. The piece, focusing on the coming week's concerts, was written in advance of Palace Brothers' November 15, 1994 gig at Stache's, a now defunct rock club in Columbus, Ohio. Stache's, a venue where Nirvana and Sonic Youth once played, closed in 1997. At the time of this November 1994 show, Palace Brothers had just released Days in the Wake, just a few months before, in August of 1994, although the initial pressings of that release were apparently self titled.

[morerevery-blog]

In the video above, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy performs "Where Wind Blows" and "No Match" at the appropriately named Palace venue in St. Gallen, Switzerland on Friday, July 13, 2012. "Where The Wind Blows" originally appeared on the 2010 album, The Wonder Show of The World, while "No Match" first appeared on 2011's Wolfroy Goes To Town. Note how between songs he introduces the members of his band in song. (Video taken once again by the YouTube user AxlManiac76, who also uploaded this video of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy playing "Master and Everyone" at the very same show).

[morerevery-blog]

In the video above, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy plays the newer, more upbeat version of “I See A Darkness” as well as "Time To Be Clear" at the Bolognetti on the Rocks night club in Bologna, Italy on Tuesday, July 17, 2012. “I See A Darkness” originally appeared on the 1999 album of the same name, while "Time To Be Clear" appeared on 2011's Wolfroy Goes To Town. (Video taken by the YouTube user SpeakingParts).

[joanofbeer]

Bonnie Prince Billy at El Lokal, Zurich

[morerevery-blog]

The Swiss Tumblr user joanofbeer offers the photograph above of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Angel Olsen performing at their recent concert at the El Lokal night club in Zurich, Switzerland on Saturday, July 14, 2012.

[morerevery-blog]

Viva Last Blues by Palace Music is the brainchild of one Will Oldham. While hardcore punk revivalism, simpering grunge pop and Neil Young fan-worship overwhelm the U.S. alterna-music scene - Palace Music prove there's still originality left.

- The Sydney Morning Herald, in an unattributed piece entitled "Come To The Party," originally published on November 3, 1995. Palace Music's Viva Last Blues, produced by Steve Albini, was released in August of 1995. In addition to Will and Ned Oldham, the album also featured Sebadoh's Jason Loewenstein on drums and vocals.